Crafting For Those Dedicated to Experimentation

Grandma Nagy

I swear I am not going to be happy until I drive my mother completely around the bend. I went to a quilt trunk show, the quilts that this woman produced were remarkable, beautiful, intricate, and so amazing! The most remarkable fact, she Hand-Stitched every one of them! Well, from what I understand she hand stitched the front, back, and the pieces on the ends (they are called something I cannot remember right now) and then someone else did the machine quilting in the middle that has the top, batting, and bottom holding together.

Now I admit, I have dabbled at sewing every now and then. My Grandmother was an amazing seamstress, and could sew about anything you can think of. My experiences with my sewing machine has always been, “Push gently down on the pedal, no a little more, a little more, now you’re sewing at 120 MPH. Now your line looks like there was an earthquake, what are you going to do?” Right about then, I give up.

My only real consolation, and there isn’t much of it, is that Mom cannot even get that far. However, I now have hope. I freely admit, I want to be able to do anything and everything. However, I know that isn’t a realistic goal, that will not stop me from trying. On that note, and with some wonderful encouragement from the woman displaying her quilts, I am going to give hand quilting a try. I think I have the concept of the rocking stitch down. I know how I want to start sewing the squares to minimize waste, I even know how I want to cut the squares. Right now it is just a matter of getting a couple of supplies and giving it a shot!

While I am getting the guts up to try my hand at this, I have decided to try weaving some spring towels for Mom out of 8/2 cotton. Three spring colors and a cheerful variegated. I have the warp wound and about 25% of the reed threaded. One good Nap on Mom’s Part and I should be able to finish threading the reed and start on the heddles, LOL. I have few days off here and there throughout the month in addition to my one day off that I usually have so the extra time can be partially spent toward crafting.